Sandy Vershbow | |
---|---|
Vershbow in 2006 | |
Deputy Secretary General of NATO | |
In office February 2012 – October 17, 2016 | |
Preceded by | Claudio Bisogniero |
Succeeded by | Rose Gottemoeller |
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
In office April 3, 2009 – February 2012 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Mary Beth Long |
Succeeded by | Derek Chollet |
United States Ambassador to South Korea | |
In office October 17, 2005 – September 18, 2008 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Christopher R. Hill |
Succeeded by | Kathleen Stephens |
United States Ambassador to Russia | |
In office October 17, 2001 – July 22, 2005 | |
President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | James Franklin Collins |
Succeeded by | William J. Burns |
18th United States Ambassador to NATO | |
In office November 10, 1997 – July 9, 2001 | |
President | Bill Clinton George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Robert E. Hunter |
Succeeded by | R. Nicholas Burns |
Personal details | |
Born | Alexander Russell Vershbow July 3, 1952 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Education | Yale University (BA) Columbia University (MA) |
Awards | ![]() |
Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow (born July 3, 1952) is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
From October 2005 to October 2008, he was the United States Ambassador to South Korea. Before that post he had been the ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to NATO from 1997 to 2001.[1] For his work with NATO he was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Service Award.
In March 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Vershbow as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, a position that holds responsibility for U.S. policy toward NATO, coordination of U.S. security and defense policies relating to the nations and international organizations of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.[2] He was confirmed in April 2009.[3]
After almost three years with the U.S. Department of Defense, in February 2012, Vershbow moved back to Brussels where he took the position of Deputy Secretary General of NATO, becoming the first American to hold the position.[4]